Primosale - Easy Fresh Cheese To Make At Home

freshly made Primosale, almost ready for it's first flipWhen testing my rennet before making mozzarella, I found myself with a cup of fresh curds on my hands. Not wanting to toss them, I decided to try to make primosale (pronounced pre-mow-sa-lay, means "first salt") using the small molds we had brought back with us from a lunch in Puglia. It was really simple to make and actually yielded enough to fill 2 of the single serving molds.

They looked great and tasted even better! Inspired, I decided to make a few more to take as a thank-you treat to our friends who had watered our plants while we were away... and then I decided to make a few more the next day as a birthday present for one of our CSA friends... and then of course I needed to some extra for our breakfasts! I was just a little obsessed. The fun of Primosale, other than the sheer ease of making it, is that it lends itself to any flavor combination you could dream up. On it's own it has a fresh, delicate flavor.

Read More

From Puglia to Abruzzo, Cheesemaking Along the Way

We left Puglia on Monday and headed to Abruzzo. Puglia is relatively flat and very similar to the U.S. Southwest. Lots of cacti, palm trees and other desert plants. Abruzzo, however, is mountainous and lush and a welcome few degrees cooler (although still pretty hot!). Puglia is the olive oil region and Abruzzo is more focused on wine (montepulciano), although plenty of olive groves still dot the landscape. We've visited and made cheese (or at least watched the making of cheese) at three places thus far, one buffalo mozarella and two sheep's milk cheese. More photos after the jump:

 Newborn Water Buffalo at Masseria San Biagio in Calimera, Salento

Read More

Making A Cheeseboard Out of Salvaged Wood

Original Cheeseboard Condition (Wiped Clean of Dirt, Bugs, etc)
One man's trash is another man's cheeseboard.
In our household I’m notorious for a few things, one of which is bringing home stuff I find on the street. Among many other things, we’ve salvaged a couch-side table, a TV stand, a bookshelf, a shoe rack, porcelain plates and now a new cheeseboard! Well, new to us at least. The best part of this story is that it all happened two days before Sweetbreads’ birthday (which is today, happy birthday darling, I love you!).

Saturday morning I was in a classic guy situation: two days pre-birthday, no concept of what to get her and hoping for a miracle to happen. At 8am on my walk to the farmer’s market such a miracle did happen. Strolling down the street I saw what appeared to be a nasty, old, rotted out piece of wood on the ground. However, I’m always on the prowl for new stuff, especially when I’m alone, and this particular piece of wood caught my attention. Despite it’s seemingly useless condition a few things struck me as odd.
Read More